Thursday, September 18, 2008

COMMENTS: Morning, sleepyheads! For the first time in 17 days, the Dodgers didn't trim at least one game from their magic number, which remains at eight. The Dodgers' lead over the Diamondbacks is 3.5 with ten games left. The Dodgers are 12-3 in September. Things are looking good, but the post-season? We're not talking about it.

So what are we talking about? Kershaw, for starters. The Dodgers have won his past three starts, but Kershaw has already thrown 157 innings this year (96 for the Dodgers and 61 for Jacksonville). If you believe in what SI.com's Tom Verducci calls the "Year-After Effect," then Kershaw, after throwing 122 innings between Jacksonville and Great Lakes last year, should be done for the season. Instead, he's in the thick of a pennant race. Present versus future? It's a tough call.

In the other dugout, Maholm is nearing 200 innings pitched himself. If the Dodgers can make him throw a lot of pitches early, then maybe they can get to the Pirates' bullpen, which they touched up for three runs yesterday before their own bullpen imploded. In any case, this has already been a winning road trip for the Dodgers; today's outcome determines if they will have gone 7-3 or 6-4. Ah, September baseball!

orel, did you catch my tommy epigraph at the end of my "we're not talking about it" post?

I'm telling you, I hear a lot of the games on the radio, and when I hear Tommy barking at me about going to Aamco, I kinda get pissed off about it and want to avoid them (and him) altogether. I'd rather wait until Tommy calms the hell down.

Yes. The Dodgers take up too much of my time, and I have forsaken eating more than once. My parents are remodeling their house, and we're all crammed into two rooms. The refrigerator is outside. There is no food here, so I have to leave to get it.